doorbells

I've arrived in Florence and am settled in Alexa's apartment close to Piazza del Santa Croce. She is a good friend from Cal Poly studying at Florence University of the Arts. On the street, all you can see of her apartment is a green door with the number 73 next to it and 5 doorbells for the apartments on each floor. Her apartment is on the 4th floor, up a winding flight of stairs shared by all the tenants.

The streets are noisy and full of kamikazee mopeds. The sidewalks are 1-2 feet wide, just breadth enough to jump to and hope you survive. I would have been easily run over except for Alexa pulling my arm towards the sidewalk half a dozen times.

This city is beautiful. Breathtaking. When I arrived at the train station, I put on my backpack and walked across the city, stopping to soak it in along the way. The buildings are so tall, yet they feel just as they should be in proportion to me. There are arches, hundreds of statues, fountains, large squares and tiny streets. Mix that with thousands of tourists and you've got quite a mess. I wish you could experience everything but the stares of the Italian men......